[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 52 (Monday, March 17, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 14226-14227]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-5304]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

RIN 0648-XG26


Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone off Alaska; Application 
for an Exempted Fishing Permit

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.

ACTION: Notice; receipt of an application for an exempted fishing 
permit.

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SUMMARY: This notice announces receipt of an application for an 
exempted fishing permit (EFP) from the Alaska Groundfish Databank. If 
granted, this permit would allow the applicant to continue the 
development and testing of an electronic monitoring system designed to 
quantify the amount of halibut caught and discarded at sea. This 
activity is intended to promote the objectives of the Fishery 
Management Plan for Groundfish of the Gulf of Alaska (FMP) by 
potentially allowing for an alternative cost effective estimation of 
halibut bycatch in the rockfish fishery. Comments will be accepted at 
the April 1-7, 2008, North Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) 
meeting in Anchorage, AK.

DATES: Interested persons may comment on the EFP application and on the 
environmental assessment during the Council's April 1-7, 2008, meeting 
in Anchorage, AK.

ADDRESSES: The Council meeting will be held at the Hilton Hotel, 500 
West Third Ave., Anchorage, AK.
    Copies of the EFP application and the basis for a categorical 
exclusion under the National Environmental Policy Act are available by 
writing to the Alaska Region, NMFS, P. O. Box 21668, Juneau, AK 99802, 
Attn: Ellen Sebastian. The application also is available from the 
Alaska Region, NMFS website at http://www.fakr.noaa.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jennfier Watson, 907-586-7537 or 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: NMFS manages the domestic groundfish 
fisheries in the Gulf of Alaska (GOA) under the FMP. The Council 
prepared the FMP under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and 
Management Act. Regulations governing the groundfish fisheries of the 
BSAI appear at 50 CFR parts 600 and 679. The FMP and the implementing 
regulations at Sec. Sec.  600.745(b) and 679.6 authorize issuance of 
EFPs to allow fishing that would otherwise be prohibited. Procedures 
for issuing EFPs are contained in the implementing regulations. NMFS 
received an application for an EFP from the Alaska Groundfish Databank 
on March 3, 2008. The purposes of the EFP project are to continue 
testing a video-based electronic monitoring (EM) system that is 
designed to quantify the amount of halibut discarded at sea; to 
investigate mechanisms for implementing regulations for such a system; 
and to investigate how EM data can be integrated into the NMFS catch 
accounting system.

Background

    NMFS issued a final rule to implement the Central GOA rockfish 
pilot program on November 20, 2006 (71 FR 67210). This program 
established a quota based fishery organized around fishing cooperatives 
for vessels and processors with historic participation in the Central 
GOA rockfish fisheries. Participating cooperatives are given quotas of 
various rockfish and non-rockfish species as well as sufficient halibut 
prohibited species quota (PSC) to conduct those fisheries. With the 
exception of halibut PSC, all quota harvested by catcher vessels must 
be landed at a participating processor where quota accounting takes 
place. Halibut PSC must be discarded at-sea and halibut catch is 
estimated by at-sea observers. In order to credibly account for halibut 
discard, and to ensure that the discard of other quota species does not 
occur, NMFS required that observer coverage be increased from 30 to 
100% when the program was implemented. Industry is concerned that costs 
associated with full observer coverage are high relative to the 
increased revenue of the program. Further, NMFS believes that wherever 
possible quota catch should be accounted for based on a full census of 
catch. This is not possible for halibut PSC under the current system. 
To address these concerns Alaska Groundfish Databank developed, in 
conjunction with NMFS staff, an alternative approach to manage 
shoreside rockfish fisheries that could include the use of EM to 
replace a portion of the required observer coverage.
    The EM system is designed to ensure that nothing other than halibut 
is discarded at sea, and to quantify the amount of halibut discarded. 
Cameras designed to give an overview of the entire deck are installed 
to ensure that discard only occurs in a single specified location. 
Other cameras, focused on the specified location, photograph each 
halibut as it is discarded. All data from

[[Page 14227]]

the cameras, as well as location information from an onboard GPS 
system, is recorded to disk for review at the end of each trip. 
Following completion of each trip the data are analyzed to ensure that 
unauthorized discard did not take place and to estimate the length of 
each halibut discarded. In 2007, NMFS issued an EFP to conduct research 
into the viability of this system on a single vessel. While a final 
report on this project has not been completed, a preliminary review of 
the data would indicate that the system is effective at accomplishing 
these goals. This EFP would continue that research on a larger number 
of vessels fishing under non-experimental conditions and would focus on 
issues associated with implementation rather than on a technical or 
scientific assessment of the EM system itself.
    To continue testing the EM system, exemptions would be necessary 
from regulations for observer coverage. Among the goals of this project 
are to determine the extent to which crew behavior changes when an 
observer is present and to attempt to mimic a regulatory environment in 
which a portion of the observer coverage is replaced by an EM system. 
In order to investigate these issues in a cost effective manner that 
ensures participation in the EFP fishery, it will be necessary to 
reduce observer coverage levels for vessels participating in the 
project to the pre-rockfish pilot program levels of 30%. Because 
participating vessels will be monitored electronically, such a 
reduction is not expected to change actual fishing behavior, trip 
duration, or the amount of fish harvested.
    The activities proposed to be conducted under the EFP are not 
expected to have a significant impact on the human environment as 
detailed in the categorical exclusion issued for this action (see 
ADDRESSES).
    In accordance with Sec.  679.6, NMFS has determined that the 
proposal warrants further consideration and has forwarded the 
application to the Council to initiate consultation. The Council will 
consider the EFP application during its April 1-7, 2008, meeting, which 
will be held at the Hilton Hotel in Anchorage, Alaska. The applicant 
has been invited to appear in support of the application.

Public Comments

    Interested persons may comment on the application at the April 2008 
Council meeting during public testimony. Information regarding the 
meeting is available at the Council's website at http://www.fakr.noaa.gov/npfmc/council.htm. Copies of the application and 
categorical exclusion are available for review from NMFS (see 
ADDRESSES).

    Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.

    Dated: March 12, 2008.
Emily H. Menashes,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. E8-5304 Filed 3-14-08; 8:45 am]
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